The present invention relates to elastic garments, and more particularly to therapeutic stockings.
In the recent past, therapeutic stockings have been prescribed on a relatively wide scale to prevent possible embolism in a patient. When a patient is confined to bed, for example, after an operation, the likelihood of thrombis is markedly increased due to a decrease in the velocity of blood flow in the patient's legs during confinement. Therapeutic or anti-embolism stockings cause application of a compressive pressure against the patient's leg which gradually decreases from the ankle toward the upper part of the leg. Such stockings increase the velocity of blood flow in the legs, and minimize the possibility of thromboembolism.
It has been found that the prior stockings have been frequently difficult to place on the patient's leg by the hospital personnel. Also, it is desirable to avoid restrictive pressures on the veins in the sensitive popliteal space in the knee region. A stocking which exerts a reduced pressure in the knee region is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,494, incorporated herein by reference.